A bit later ==

You are now Feliciano again. Mathias has just informed you that you will be executed soon. You have no idea what that means, but you're sure it's bad. Now he's leaning against Peter's cell and smirking at you like an asshole.

"It's almost time," he says, "Francis will be down soon to take you up, so you'd better start saying your Goodbyes."

You can't even cry anymore.

Retort ==

"Why bother? You never said Goodbye to Lukas..." you tell him.

"Still don't know who you're talking about, kiddo." Mathias shrugs. "But who knows? Maybe I'll pay him a visit and drain him after you're dead."

Antonio gets to his feet.

"You can't do this!" he says. "It's wrong! Immoral! Inhuman!"

"That's just the thing, isn't it?" Mathias asks. "I'm not human. I'm better than that. I'm at the top of the food chain, bud, and we're running this little game of cat-and-mouse. Don't even bother trying to appeal to my sense of decency, because I ain't got one. Don't you get it? Your whole crusade is pointless. Why not surrender and join our forces?"

"Never." says Antonio.

You move to sit closer to Lovi, who is looking more human every day. His eyes are more focused and he no longer drags his leg behind him as he walks. His cheeks are still hollow and you can still see his veins fairly clearly, but some color has returned to his cheeks and he seems to know that you are his brother.

"Your loss, then." Mathias shrugs. "I guess we can still have some fun with you... maybe we could tear apart that zombie you're so attached to and make you watch?"

Antonio stiffens.

"I won't let you." he says. Before Mathias can reply, he continues. "I won't let you touch him or Feli. You know what, Mathias? I pity you. It must be strange not to love... lonely and dark and confining, I bet. You tell me I'm missing out on a lot of fun by turning down your offer to, well, turn me, but I say you're missing out on being human."

Antonio... ==

"Don't antagonize him further." you say quietly, but neither of them pay you any attention.

"Don't preach to me, pretty boy." Mathias hisses, drawing closer to the bars. "The last guy who did that got his best friend killed. Besides, since when was love ever that great? It weakens you and breaks your heart in the end. There's no point in something stupid like that."

"Does there need to be a point?" Antonio asks.

"You're starting to get on my nerves..." Mathias warns. "Sorry, but there's no way you'll inspire a change of heart in me. You'll just have to get used to the fact that you're gonna die sooner rather than later."

Do something already ==

Let Antonio continue to dig his own grave ==

You get to your feet and walk over to the bars of the cage.

"You're wrong, Mathias." you tell him. "Alright, I have no way of knowing when each of us will die, but you're wrong about being on the winning side. Sure us humans can be dumb and silly sometimes, and we fight and argue a lot, but you'll never manage to suppress us because we're... what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, resilient. We're resilient."

Mathias scoffs.

"No you're not!" he chuckles, drawing a gun from inside his jacket and aiming it at Antonio. "Watch!"

"No!" you exclaim as Lovi gets to his feet. "I meant as a whole! All together, we could probably topple your organization, I bet!"

"Well... why haven't you done it yet?" the Dane asks.

"We're waiting for the right moment and the right weapon." you lie. Truthfully, you're pretty sure your entire kind is made up of cowards... except Antonio and Alfred and Feliks Berwald and Lukas, who are all very brave.

"You can't afford to wait any longer." Mathias tells you. "Your whole species is going down the drain."

"But then... what will you eat?" you ask. "You guys don't like animal blood..."

"We'll drain the werecreatures." Mathias shrugs. "And maybe we'll keep a few select humans alive to breed then eat."

"That's sickening." you whimper.

"To you, maybe." he shrugs.

"Feli, let me deal with this..." Antonio says, despite the fact that he's still got a gun pointed at him.

"Mathias," you say, ignoring Antonio, "I hate to tell you this, but you're the bad guy, and the thing about bad guys... they always get their comeuppance."

"I told you too many stories." he sighs. "Feli, this is the real world. There won't be any dragons or vikings coming to save you and Good and wicked are just words. Nothing can stop me from killing your friends... here, allow me to demonstrate."

What happens next occurs too quickly for you to process properly.

All you know is that Mathias shot the gun at Antonio.

So why is Lovino standing in front of the barrel of the weapon?

Oh crap ==

You and Antonio watch, dumbfounded, as Lovi sinks to his knees, staring down at the gaping hole in his chest.

Mathias smirks and walks away, but you pay him no attention.

Antonio kneels next to Lovi, who looks over at him.

"Antonio..." he says.

"You... you just..." Antonio stammers, eyes wide.

Lovi nods.

Antonio grabs him by the shoulders and presses a kiss to his mouth.

And then something TOTALLY SHOCKING happens.

Lovi's cheeks flush a bright tomato red.

And so does his bullet wound.

"He's bleeding!" you exclaim.

Antonio pulls away and he and Lovi both look down at the blood pouring out of the wound.

"Lovi!" says the panicked Spaniard.

Be useful ==

Panic ==

You push Antonio aside and have Lovi hold up his shirt so you can examine his wound.

"Tear something up so we can stop the bleeding!" you tell your friend.

Before he can do anything, a new voice is heard.

"Time's up, mon cher." says none other than Francis Bonnefoy.

"But-"

He opens the cell door and pulls you to your feet.

As you are led away, you turn to call back to Antonio.

"Keep pressure on the wound... Goodbye, Antonio."

"Feli!"

There is time for nothing more, as Francis has a gun at your back and is marching you down the dimly-lit hall. You feel oddly numb, and hardly scared at all. The blood on Lovi's shirt remains imprinted on your memory; you see it every time you close your eyes.

It means something, you're sure of it.

It means that Lovi is human again.

And you think you know how.

As you reach Ludwig's cell, you pause.

"Please... let me say Goodbye?" you ask Francis.

"I really shouldn't... but go ahead." he says with a shrug. "It's your funeral."

You hurry over to the bars where Ludwig awaits, arms outstretched. He catches you in a fierce hug and all you can think about is how warm and comfortable you feel.

"Feliciano..." he says quietly, shakily, and you pull back a little so you can look up at him.

He averts his gaze, but not before you see that there are tears in his eyes.

"Ludwig," you say, reaching up to put your hand to the side of his face, "it'll be alright. I promise."

"I..." he sighs, "ja, Feli. I'm sure."

"I'm serious." you say. "It will all work out."

"How?" Gilbert asks from the back of the cell. "How can you even hope that anymore?"

"Gilbert!" reprimands Ludwig.

Reassure ==

"I'm not hoping, Gil." you tell him. "I'm going to make it better."

"Tick tock..." Francis says, pointing to his watch.

Ludwig leans in close to you.

"You are the brightest light in this dark world right now, Feliciano..." he says quietly. "Don't go."

You lean in to give Ludwig a chaste kiss on the lips before turning to follow the French vampire down the prison hall.

"Ciao, Ludwig..." you say.

"Feliciano!"

"Auf wiedersehen." says Gilbert.

"No..." says Alfred.

"Sayonara, Feliciano-san."

Geez, what drama queens!

Francis takes you out of the dungeon and leads you to the sanctuary.

"Au revoir, little dove." Francis says, leaving and making sure to lock the door behind him.

You're not that scared.
Anxious, sure.

Worried, of course.

Scared? Nah.

Because you've got a theory... and even if it doesn't work, at least you'll die knowing you tried.

You are scared for Lovi, though. That looked like a pretty deadly wound.

You look around the large chapel. You are standing in front of a door in the middle of a wall. To the right is the main entrance to the church, bolted up tight and probably sealed with magic; to the left is a huge stained glass window and a tall podium. In front of you are several rows of pews, all in fairly decent shape.

There is also a grand pipe organ, but it is cobwebbed and dusty and sad-looking. Across from it are a few rows of seats for a choir, also decrepit.

Standing near the organ, looking up at the window, is a person who you guess must be the head vampire.

He doesn't look like a vampire, though. He looks like a business man.

And sitting in one of the choral pews is another person who is reading a book. He looks nice, you think... of course, you think a lot of people look nice.

After a silence a bit too long to be bearable, you nervously clear your throat.

"Uh... hi?" you try.

The standing man looks over his shoulder at you with an appraising gaze.

His face doesn't look all that vampiric, either. He's got dark eyebrows and messy blond hair and sparkling emerald eyes. The only thing that makes him look even slightly undead is his skin, which is whiter than the palest ghost.

The reading person doesn't look up.

"So you're the one who's been causing all this trouble..." the blond says with a distinctly British accent.

"Honestly, I could be saying that about you." you say as politely as you can. You're all about politeness. "Anyway... I suppose you're the head vampire?"

The Brit nods and turns to walk a bit closer.

"Indeed. I am Arthur Kirkland. You must be Feliciano Vargas."

"Si."

He holds out his hand, which you shake.

"Hmm, I was told that you were a coward..." the vampire says. "It appears that I was misinformed."

"No, I really am a coward." you tell him. "I just don't find this situation that scary! You actually look rather nice and this church is so pretty and those pancakes Matthew made were pretty delicious so... yeah."

Arthur raises an eyebrow.

"You are aware that you were brought here to die, correct?"

"Si, but we all die sooner or later, so why fuss?"

The Brit looks thoughtful.

"Suppose I offered to keep you from dying... indefinitely?"

That would be great! ==

Heck no ==

Only if you save Lovi ==

"No thanks, mister." you say. "I really don't like the idea of having to drink blood."

"What if I told you that you don't have a choice?"

"Then I will step out into the sunlight the minute after you turn me." you say. "After freeing my friends, of course! I may not be very strong or smart, but I promise that I will be on the side of the angels until the very end."

"Then I guess I'll have to kill you." the Brit shrugs. "No big loss, I suppose."

"But I ought to put up at least some sort of a fight, don't you think?" you ask. "It is traditional..."

"What fight are you able to put up?" Arthur scoffs. "According to my informants, you have no known strengths and your other team is being taken into captivity as we speak."

"Well, I do have a theory..." you say.

"Let's hear it, then." Arthur says.

"It will take a while to explain..." you say.

"We have time."

"Well... my theory is a bit of a corny one, but I guess that's why I like it." you say. "You see... this whole experience has been pretty terrifying, but also enlightening." you tell him. "See, I think Mathias became a Wicked vampire because he thought his love was unrequited..."

You pause.

"Francis is Wicked because his past romances always went sour... Mattie is only working with you guys because of Francis... and then, all the nice vampires I have met are that way because they are loved or believe firmly in love."

Arthur crosses his arms and gives you a look that says "is that so?"

The person who was reading, who you assume is Yao Wang, looks up at you, brown eyes meeting yours fleetingly.

"And..." you continue. "And today... my brother, who was a zombie... he became human, because he fell in love."

"And your point is...?" Arthur asks.

"My point is, love is humanity's strength and magic's weakness." you say. "And it could destroy you, since you are the starting point of all this hate."

"That," says Arthur, "might actually be a sound theory. One problem, however: I have no love for anybody... and who on earth could ever love me enough to destroy me?"

"I have an idea." says a new voice.

Yet another Starmites song! This whole fanfic was just an excuse to work "Immolation" in somehwere.